


Wizard Prom

by Another_Oddity



Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pining, Slow Dancing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:47:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29723007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Another_Oddity/pseuds/Another_Oddity
Summary: It's about time for the Magic Knights annual End-of-Year Ball! The Black Bulls certainly are excited, and they're ready to get dressed up and strut into the capital. The only problem is their personal feelings for their fellow magic knights may or may not get in the way of having a good night. (They're totally gonna get in the way, btw)
Relationships: Asta/Noelle Silva, Magna Swing & Luck Voltia, Vanessa Enoteca & Finral Roulacase, Zora Ideale/Mereoleona Vermillion
Comments: 1
Kudos: 45





	1. The Announcement

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry that I have no idea what I'm doing. Also I haven't gotten caught up on everything yet so please forgive me if there's outdated information in here.

It was finally that week! Yes, the week of the annual Magic Knights End-of-Year Ball! The whole Black Bulls’ base was excited, talking about what clothes they were going to wear, who they were going to ask out, and what kind of food would be there.

Unfortunately, not everyone was this excited. Asta sat at the dinner table looking confused and Zora leaned against a wall looking like he was so bored he could die. Vanessa turned to look at Asta.

“So, Asta, who do you want to take to the dance?” She asked, excitement in her tone. Asta mulled it over for a bit before shrugging.

“I don’t really know. I’m still a little confused about the whole thing. See, back in Hage, we didn’t have dances often. I’m really not sure what to expect.”

The witch clapped a hand on the young knight’s shoulder.

“Aww, don’t worry about it! It’s just like any other dance; there’s food, music, dancing, sometimes a couple of games.” Asta seemed to perk up. All that stuff sounded awesome, and it would be even better with all his friends there as well, but…

“That all sounds great, Vanessa, but I have nobody to ask out.”

Vanessa suddenly adopted a mischievous smile.

“Oh don’t worry about that, I’m sure Noelle would  _ love  _ to go with you!”

The young royal in particular tuned in once her name was mentioned.

“What about me?” She asked. Asta turned toward Noelle and smiled. He had the girl trapped under his gaze even though he didn’t know it.

“Hey, yeah! We could go as friends!”

_ “What is he planning to do? Oh no. Were they talking about the dance just now? Is Asta going to ask me out!?”  _ Noelle’s thoughts raced by.

“Go where, exactly?” Noelle was starting to lose what little patience she had.

“Noelle,” Asta started seriously, “will you go to the Magic Knights Ball with me!?”

_ “OhMyGodHeActuallyAskedMeOhMyGodYes!!!”  _

Now, Noelle was known to hold great pride of her being royalty. It would be a major faux pas for her to show up to the ball with a commoner from some pitiful village out in the sticks. It’s not like she wanted to turn Asta down- by all means, she wanted to go with him- but what would other people think? Yeah, that was totally the reason!

“God, you’re so stupid, Asta! Like I would ever go with some loudmouth half pint like you!” She launched a large blast of water at him, hitting him dead on at point blank range. Noelle internally screamed and cursed herself.

_ “Why did I say that!? That’s not what I wanted to mean at all!” _

But it was too late, the words were already out and Asta was drenched and laying on the floor. He weakly sat up.

“You could’ve just said no…” He groaned out before falling back down. There was quiet snickering coming from the corner of the room. Vanessa turned to look at the source: Zora.

“What about  _ you _ , Mr. Sarcasm? Are you going to the dance or are you too busy sitting at home and being bitter?” Vanessa asked. Zora pushed off the wall and walked over to the witch, carelessly stepping over Asta, who had chosen to do sit ups after recovering.

Zora had never been fond of the Magic Knights. He also wasn’t very fond of rich people and nobles who did nothing but sit on their asses and hoard their wealth, looking down on all the commoners as if they were worthless ants. It made sense as to why he wouldn’t want to go to the dance.

He snickered.

“Yeah, like I would want to go to some big, fancy party full of arrogant jackasses who’ll look down their noses at us the whole time. Why would I want to put my pride aside and get all dressed up in some uncomfy ass suit just to be mocked by some upper crust douchebags?”

Vanessa shrugged nonchalantly, and headed over to the wine she left on the table. Asta stood up and shouted energetically; his comrades close by covered their ears, of course.

A spacial portal opened up behind the couch and a very confident looking Finral stepped out.

“Asta!” Finral shouted, pointing to the man in question. “You’re going to the ball with me as my wingman, right? Think of all the chicks we could pick up…”

Asta put his hand on his chin and thought. On one hand, he didn’t know how to navigate this kind of social event and would probably end up making a fool of himself, but on the other hand hanging out with Finral could be the guide that he needed, too bad that he’d have to spend the evening trying to hook Finral up with random girls.

“I mean, sure I guess. As long as you show me around the place, I’ll be fine.” The shorter man decided. Finral did a fist pump and wrapped his arm around Asta.

“Nice! Thanks, buddy, you are  _ not  _ going to regret this.”

The chatter went on with Vanessa trying to talk Charmy into letting her make Charmy’s dress, Finral discussing proper etiquette with Asta, Gauche mumbling about how nice he’s going to dress for his sister, Gordon whispering incoherently, Grey was cowering at the edge of the couch, and Magna and Luck challenging each other to some contest or another.

“Alright, Black Bulls, listen up!” The chatter died down immediately when Captain Yami barked the order. Everyone turned to look at the captain. “Now I know we’re all excited for that stupid winter ball thing-”

“I’m not that excited actually, captain.” Zora bit. Yami grumbled. He really was not in the mood for sass right now.

“Listen here, emo boy, I think you better tone down the sarcasm while I’m talkin’ to ya unless you want to be on latrine duty for the next year, ya got that?”

That seemed to shut the redhead up for a while. Yami continued:

“Now, the End-of-Year ball is a very important event. It’s not just for dancing and eating, you know. It’s imperative that we all be on our best behavior-” He punctuated this statement with a stern look at Magna and Luck, “-to show to the public that we’re competent and also civilized.”

“Yes, captain!” Asta shouted, saluting his superior. The other knights followed his lead, some more enthusiastic than others, then they went back to their own conversations.

Vanessa was eager to get all of the girls into nice dresses, showing off her thread magic. She called over Grey and Noelle.

“So, Noelle, Grey, what do you guys plan on wearing to the dance? Charmy’s already made up her mind.”

The smaller girl beamed proudly. “I’m gonna wear a suit and tie!”

_ “And hopefully, I’ll catch Yuno’s attention by not wearing a dress like every other girl!” _ Charmy thought.

“So… What kind of dress do you want? We can go out and buy one and then I can use my magic to make any modifications.”

_ “I do have some nice dresses back at my house, but maybe I should get a new one because this is a special occasion. Plus what if Asta sees me and…”  _ Noelle thought. She blushed a bright red when she thought about Asta. Like it mattered if he saw her in a pretty, new dress! Asta was as dense as brick and probably wouldn’t notice her anyway, so it didn’t matter how she dressed.

_ “But at the same time, what if this dance is what really gets him to like me?” _

“Sure, I’ll go dress shopping with you, Vanessa.”

Vanessa got really excited, then turning to Grey.

“I guess I’ll go with you. I just hope we don’t go somewhere too crowded.” the shy girl said, blushing and covering her face.

Vanessa wrapped the girls in a hug. She was cheering and laughing, genuinely excited to share such an important event with her friends. Gauche looked over at the squealing girls from his spot on the couch, obviously irate.

“Can you three take the squealing dress talk somewhere else? I’m trying to worship Marie over here.”

The girls shot him a look, but moved to another room anyways.

Zora snickered. “Look at you guys. Makin’ a bunch of idiots of yourselves over one stupid dance.”

Finral whipped around with a smug look on his face. “Oh yeah? Well, I heard that Mereoleona Vermillion is gonna be attending this year, since she was captain of the Crimson Lions for a while, but since you aren’t planning on going I guess you won’t see her.” He knew he had pushed the right button when Zora’s face went pink. The redhead scoffed.

“Yeah, so what? Why would I be worried about the affairs of some noble?” he grumbled, looking down at the floor.

“Oh, I think you’re worried.” Finral prodded.

“Do you want to lose your head, pretty boy?”

“I bet you’d want her to give you some head-”

Zora stepped toward Finral and slapped him on the back of the head. The spacial magician rubbed his head, slightly dejected. Asta looked on, confusedly.

“What’s so wrong about Captain Mereoleona going?” He asked. Finral perked up again and Zora gave him a death glare. If looks could kill, Finral would be in a cold, cold grave by now.

“There’s nothing  _ wrong  _ with her going. I just don’t like seeing royals flaunt all their-”

“He has a crush on Mereoleona!” Finral interrupted. Zora slapped him on the head again. “OW! Hey, that’s really rude, y’know! I’m your superior!”

Asta stared at Zora for a while, as if processing the information that had just been given to him.

“Wait, you like Mereoleona!? _Why!?_ "

Zora stepped back and looked away, face turning a bright red. He mumbled something under his breath.

“What’d you say? I can’t hear you.”

“I said it’s because she’s strong, okay?” Zora exclaimed. “She’s incredibly strong and pretty and… cool. She’s sort of an inspiration to me, and I really admire her.”

Finral and Asta just stared. Zora wasn’t usually the type of guy to express his feelings- unless that feeling was anger or sarcasm, of course- so this was kind of a big deal. The two looked at each other and nodded firmly before Asta put his hand on Zora’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, dude, we’ll help you get her attention!” Asta declared with a thumbs up.

“We will?” Finral side-eyed his short companion. He knew that this was going to be a disaster, but still didn’t want to say anything.

“Of course we will! It’ll be like I’m your wingman, and we’re Zora’s wingman. I mean, uh, wingmen?”

The redhead stared in shock at the little knight. He seemed so eager to help, it was almost adorable. Zora chuckled quietly. He moved Asta’s hand off his shoulder.

“What’s so funny?” Asta asked.

“It’s funny how badly this is gonna turn out for me.” Zora half grinned, half winced. “But I’ll let you two try your hand at it anyway.” He waved his hand dismissively and walked in the direction of his bedroom. So Finral and Asta began to devise a plan.

Meanwhile, in Vanessa’s room, the girls were talking about what kind of dress they were going to look for. Three of them sat in a circle on the floor, Charmy sitting on the bed. Noelle nervously picked at the cotton rug beneath her.

“Remember, we have to wear our Black Bulls robes so try and think of something that could go with that.” Vanessa bubbled. She was always sort of like the cool wine aunt of the group, and everyone below her knew that she saw them as younger siblings. It made sense why she was so eager to go to the ball this year, especially since a certain someone in the group had a crush on another, loud and somewhat obnoxious, someone.

“I want something simple that covers my body.” Chimed Grey from behind her hands. “I-I just don’t-don’t want people to look at me.”

“We can do that! Even if we find a dress that you like, but maybe it’s too short, I can make it a little longer. What about you, Noelle? Any ideas?”

The royal looked up from the rug. She thought about how the dance could go, about Asta seeing her in a brand new dress that perfectly highlighted her body, and dazzling makeup to make her the most gorgeous royal she always has been and realizing his love for her. She thought about him walking over, stunned, and offering his hand out, inviting her to dance.

_ “God, does he even know how to dance?” _ She thought.

“Noelle?  _ Noelle _ ?” Vanessa waved her hand in front of Noelle’s face, snapping her back to reality.

“Right! Dresses, um…” While Noelle was thinking, Vanessa smiled coyly.

“You were thinking about Asta, weren’t you?”

The royal started. Her face turned a bright, strawberry red and she waved her hands dismissively.

“W-what?! I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

The witch reached over and put her hand on Noelle’s shoulder. She gave her a warm smile. Then Charmy piped up.

“Why don’t you ask him to the dance, Noelle? Everyone here knows you like him, and he’d probably say yes.”

Noelle hid her face.

_ “Everyone knows? Damnit. How embarrassing…” _

“I-I-I-!” She stammered. Noelle took a deep breath and sighed. “I couldn’t. I already turned him down, remember? Plus he would never feel that way about me anyways.” Her eyes started to sting and she knew tears would start to well up if she wasn’t careful. No one needed to see her in this vulnerable state.

The girls all tried to comfort her. Charmy walked over to where Noelle was sitting and gave her a cupcake, which she graciously accepted.

“I don’t know, guys. Maybe going to this dance isn’t the best idea.” She lamented. Grey shook her head, but still covered her face.

“No way, Noelle! This dance only comes once a year, and it’s a super important event for everyone. Maybe you can still get Asta to go with you somehow?”

The royal thought about it for a moment. There would probably be plenty of chances for her to regain Asta’s favor and get to dance with him. It was all a matter of how..

“Maybe you’re right, Grey. I’ll come up with a plan to get him to dance with me! And if I do this right, there’s a chance I might even get to confess my feelings for him.”

The girls cheered. They were set on not only picking out their dresses for the dance, but helping Noelle get her very own Prince Charming.


	2. Dress to Impress!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if talking about fashion and crushes is boring to you because that's literally the whole chapter. I'm sorry. ;-;

**_CRASH!_ **

There was drama going on in the Vermillion house. A loud bang sounded throughout the house as Leopold was catapulted into his bedroom door. He laid on the floor, dizzy and disoriented, rubbing the new bump on his head. His older sister, Mereoleona, stood imposingly in the hallway.

“I  _ told you  _ I’m  _ not  _ going!” She shouted. The woman stomped off in the other direction past a very concerned Fuegoleon. He opened his mouth to say something, but his sister held up her hand. “Save it, Fuegoleon!” He closed his mouth and allowed Mereoleona to stalk past, he didn’t really feel like joining Leopold on the floor.

The truth was, the young royal had tried convincing his sister to go to the Magic Knights Ball since she had been invited. This was the third time he had tried to get her to go, and now he was really regretting bothering her.

Fuegoleon bent down to his little brother’s level. He reached his hand out for the young man to take, then the two of them slowly walked to the local infirmary.

Meanwhile, Mereoleona seethed in her room. She was never really good at the whole social interaction thing. She never “hung out” with other people unless she was training or fighting, but did that really count? Anyway, there was no way in hell she was going to go to some big, fancy party with a ton of other people that would probably expect her to socialize and represent the house of Vermillion. Nope. She was not ready to potentially fuck that up.

That afternoon, Mereoleona found herself walking the streets of the capitol to clear her head. She politely greeted some magic knights that were out and about, and she was about to be on her way when one of them stopped her for a moment.

“Former Captain Mereoleona, are you going to attend this year’s dance?”

Her eye twitched. She hated that she was expected to go to this party, but she scoffed and politely said no, continuing her walk.

“But, if I may ask, Captain, why?” He prodded. Mereoleona would never admit to being insecure about anything, so it would be better for her image if she just lied.

“I have too many responsibilities to take care of this year.  _ Someone  _ has to protect this kingdom while the rest of you are out having your fun.” Well, it wasn’t a total lie. She wasn’t fond of the idea of most of the magic knights forgoing their duties just to have some pointless celebration.

The magic knight who asked her frowned slightly and returned to his friend’s side.

As Mereoleona was walking away, she picked up on the two knights’ conversation.

“Do you think more of the Black Bulls will show up this year?” One of the knights asked his friend.

“Gosh, I hope not. They always cause so much trouble.”

The redheaded royal thought about those magic knights’ words. Only about half of the Black Bulls ever attended the dance, yet they almost always caused some sort of chaos that bothered the other squads. Still, she had seen them train hard and fight well alongside each other. Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to believe that they’ve matured as people.

As she walked, she heard children playing and laughing. She looked around and saw Sister Theresa with the kids from the church.

"Sister Theresa! It's good to see you!" Mereoleona called, approaching the small group.

"Ah, Mereoleona! Or should I call you former Captain Mereoleona?"

The Vermillion laughed. "No need for such formality."

Sister Theresa hummed and smiled. "So," she started, and Mereoleona had a feeling she knew what the older woman was going to ask. "are you going to the magic knights' ball this year?"

There it was.

Mereoleona rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm not. I have too much work to do, who else is going to defend the Royal Capitol?"

Theresa simply nodded her head. She didn't really expect the royal to say any different. She knew in her heart that Mereoleona was a very stubborn and strong individual. She was also very practical, and nothing is more impractical than a fancy party that leaves the kingdom vulnerable.

"That really is a shame. I was hoping to see you there." Sister Theresa stated. "I was taking the church kids to the party with me, so they could see all the magic knights, and truly appreciate the people that work to defend us all."

The kids laughed and one little boy mumbled a thank you, the rest of them following suit.

This caught the royal's attention. If Sister Theresa was going, then maybe she would make an exception. She respected this woman more than anyone in the kingdom (if you exclude her brother) and any chance to prove how much she's grown was a chance she would gladly take up. That, and she didn't want to let down a group of little kids.

If representing the magic knights and the house of Vermillion meant putting on a dress and makeup, then she was willing to do it.

"Well, when you put it like that, it does seem much more important, doesn't it?" Mereoleona paused. "I'm still thinking about it. There's a chance you might see me at the dance after all."

Theresa smiled up at Mereoleona. The royal smiled back. The two caught up for a little before saying their goodbyes and parting ways.

Mereoleona thought back to those other magic knights she had come across. They were worried about the Black Bulls ruining the dance  _ again _ . The more she thought about them, the warmer her face got. She would never admit it to anyone, sometimes not even to herself, but she had some semblance of a crush on one of the Black Bulls.

She tried to shake him out of her mind and focus, but she couldn't. All she could think about was if he was going to the dance or not.

_ "Like I care if some stupid boy is going to the dance this year. God, have I gone soft? Impossible!" _ She thought.  _ "But still, I do wonder how he's doing…" _

Back at the Black Bulls’ hideout, Finral paced back and forth in front of Zora’s door. Asta leaned against the wall next to the door. The two of them were waiting for Zora to finish getting dressed. He was going to put on his nicest outfit, then Finral and Asta would see if it was royal dance worthy.

The door swung open eventually and out stepped Zora, dressed in a wrinkled off white button up and black leather pants with a pair of black platform boots. The mask, of course, stayed on.

“Oh,” Finral started, “well that looks… nice.”

Zora eyed him.

“ _ Nice _ , huh?

“Yeah, it’s… nice, but it’s not exactly what I would call evening wear.”

_ “More like you’re going to a church dance with, like, twenty other people.” _ Finral thought to himself.

“Well then, what do you suggest I do?”

Asta studied the outfit. It wasn’t necessarily informal, it just lacked a few formal touches. He walked in front of Zora and studied him up and down.

“I think I got it!” He exclaimed. The older knights turned to him, waiting to hear his plan. “We don’t have to change your whole outfit, Zora. We can just add to it and make it look better! A form fitting suit jacket, a tie, and a pressed shirt would totally fix this! ...I think.”

The other two looked at each other and then back at Asta. What if he was right? Well, there was only one way to find out. Zora went rummaging through his closet, looking for a suit jacket.

“Come on, I know I have one.” He grumbled. Frustrated, he started removing items from the closet one by one and setting them on the bed. Finral picked up one of the discarded clothing items- a black, turtleneck crop top. Christ, this guy dressed like he was going to a funeral first and party right after. In fact, after perusing a lot of Zora’s clothes, Finral decided that this guy had almost no fashion sense whatsoever.

“Found it!” Finral stopped going through the clothes and Asta poked his head in the door to take a look.

Zora put the jacket on and buttoned it up. It would be great… if it wasn’t too big for him. The shoulders were too broad and it kept trying to slip off. The redhead looked in the mirror and sighed.

“Damnit! This is so stupid. Why can’t I just show up in my normal clothes?”

“Because your normal clothes make you look like a male stripper.” Finral mumbled to himself.

“What was that, Finral?”

“Nothing.”

“No, no. I thought I heard you say something. Care to repeat it?” The look in Zora’s eyes spelled death.

“Guys, guys! Stop fighting, seriously! Think about it, we’re all doing this for one reason.” Asta shouted, putting himself in the middle of the two. Finral and Zora looked at the boy, confused.

“Oh yeah? So what’s the reason?” Zora asked.

“To attract girls! Right?”

Now the older two were really confused. Sure, they were doing it to attract women’s attention, but Asta? The only thing he ever seemed attracted to was strength training and pushing past his limits.

“So who are you trying to impress, Asta?” Finral asked. Asta hummed in confusion. “You said we’re all trying to attract girls, so who are you dressing up for?”

Asta’s face turned a slight pink and suddenly the floor seemed very interesting to him.

“Well, I wouldn’t say I’m doing it completely for her, but if she noticed me that way it would be kinda nice.” The boy half chuckled, but it sounded so sad. “But she’s not interested in me at all.”

Finral and Zora looked at each other and nodded. They silently agreed to put their differences aside as long as it meant Asta getting noticed by his crush. He had done so much for the squad, so it was only fair that they do something for him too. Besides, they were kids! How hard could getting them together be?

Somewhere in town, Charmy, Vanessa, Noelle, and Grey were out looking at dresses (and a suit small enough for Charmy). The girls went to a shop that wasn’t too crowded, as per Grey’s request, and when they stepped inside they were amazed by all the options. They split up to each look for something they liked.

Grey was looking through stuff in her size, it all honestly made her more nervous. She tried to picture herself in everything she looked at, but it was all so embarrassing. Every dress seemed to be too revealing; everything was a plunge neckline here, or a mini skirt there. It was frustrating. A saleswoman approached Grey and gently put her hand on the knight’s shoulder.

“Looking for a dress for the Magic Knights’ Ball?” The lady asked. Grey pulled away from her touch and hid her face with her hands.

“Y-yes, I am, but-but please don’t look at me.” She whimpered. The saleswoman was confused on how such a shy young lady could be a magic knight. Either way, she complied and tried her best not to make eye contact with the girl.

“So what type of dress are you looking for, Ma’am?”

“Anything that will cover most of my body. I don’t want anything too short or with a deep neckline.”

“Of course! I’ll try and help you find something that suits your needs.” The saleswoman put on a cheery attitude and began to help Grey search through the racks.

In another part of the shop, Noelle was having a similar problem. She wanted something regal looking that would also match her Black Bulls robe. She pictured herself in dress after dress, and everyone of them seemed to be lacking  _ something _ . Of course, if something wasn’t to her taste, she could always make a quick stop by her house just before the party and pick a dress from her own wardrobe. The more she thought about that, the worse of an idea it became. Solid and Nebra would likely be at home before the dance too, and they would certainly mock Noelle’s fashion sense. But then again, even if she showed up in a brand new dress, they would still probably mock her.

Why did this have to be so hard?

Vanessa seemed to have no trouble at all finding something that she liked. Unlike her previous End-of-Year ball outfits, this one wasn’t as revealing. The dress was strapless and knee length, but what really caught her attention was the colors. It started out black at the top and gently faded into a cute, pastel pink at the bottom. The skirt wasn’t the most dynamic, but that was nothing a couple petticoats wouldn’t fix. It was perfect!

She tried it on in the fitting room. The dress was tight in the chest, but Vanessa decided she would just deal with it. Charmy clapped when Vanessa stepped out to model it.

“Wow, Vanessa! You look like a freaking goddess! Is that the one you’re gonna get?”

She nodded. Even though it was pretty pricey, she just could not walk away from it.

She returned to the dressing room to take off the dress while Charmy went and got a salesperson so they could ring it up.

Noelle searched through rack after rack, looking for something with the perfect amount of sexiness and class. Nothing too revealing though, she didn’t want her siblings thinking she was a whore. She almost gave up looking and was about to ask Vanessa if they could go look at another shop when she found it.

It was pretty simple if she was being honest, but something about it drew her in. The dress was pure white with several underskirts and the length came to just above her knees. It had a straight across neckline and looked like it could’ve been strapless, but there was one strap on the left side made entirely out of black lace. That lace trailed down the entire left side of the dress, making beautiful flower and leaf patterns.

Noelle thought about what it would be like to wear this out on the dance floor, Asta holding her waist and hand as they danced in gentle circles. In her daydream, Asta twirled her around, her skirts spinning out into a flat circle. Everyone would stop and admire the two, pointing and whispering about how absolutely stunning Noelle looked.

She was snapped out of her little daydream by Vanessa walking over with her dress wrapped in a protective cover.

“You find one you like, Noelle?” The royal turned and showed Vanessa the dress she picked out. “Oh that’s so cute! You’ll look great in that! Come on let’s go try it on.”

She ushered the young girl to one of the fitting rooms.

Noelle slowly put on the dress, not entirely comfortable yet with the idea of it. She zipped it up and hesitantly looked in the mirror. It fit perfectly, highlighting her chest and waist. The more she looked, the more anxious she got. What if Asta didn’t like it? What if Solid and Nebra made a fool of her in front of everyone?

_ “Why would it matter?”  _ A stray thought crossed her mind.  _ “So what if my siblings don’t like it? So what if Asta doesn’t like it? This dress is cute and elegant, just like me, and so what if other people don’t see that?” _

Noelle felt infinitely more confident after her own self pep talk.

“Let us see it, Noelle!” She heard Vanessa shout from outside. Noelle took a deep breath and stepped outside. The cheers from Charmy and Vanessa felt so uplifting. Noelle felt so confident with them around. She even did a little twirl and stuck a pose, to which the other girls clapped.

_ “Yep. This is the one.”  _ Noelle thought. She went out to find a salesperson so she could pay for it.

Meanwhile, the saleswoman helping Grey was becoming increasingly frustrated. Nothing seemed to be modest enough for this girl. She sighed heavily, and was about to give up when three other magic knights came over. Two of them had already purchased their outfits.

“Still looking, Grey?” Charmy asked. Grey nodded.

“Well we’ll help you! That’ll speed things up a little. After all, we still have to go get Charmy’s suit and then get back to the base.” Vanessa offered.

The four of them (five if you count the saleswoman) went through the racks looking for the dress that covered the most skin.

This was going to take a while...


	3. Wingman in Training!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a mess, I'm so sorry. I wrote this while I was really busy, sad, and tired. Idk I just had to get this one done before the next school week.

“So, Asta, do you know how to dance?” Finral asked. Asta simply shook his head no. While he had danced before, it was usually more of a freestyle type deal. He couldn’t dance ballroom style like everyone else. “Right! Well, I’ll have to teach you then. In order to get attention from girls, it’s important to look classy.”

Finral placed Asta’s hand just above his waist, then grabbing his other hand.

“Right, now pretend I’m a girl. You’re going to want to hold her like this, and then I’ll hold you,” Finral placed his free hand on his partner’s shoulder, “like this. Got it?”

Asta nodded firmly. “Got it!”

“Good. Now I’m only going to teach you a box step because it’s easy to learn. Plus it’s... kinda the only waltz I know.”

The pair moved slowly in a circle. Since Asta was taking the lead, Finral had to invert his steps.

_ “One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three…” _ The two of them kept the counts in their heads. Asta was quickly getting the hang of the dance, and even speeding up the count. Finral let go of his partner and they both did a little pretend bow.

“Very good, Asta! You’re a natural!”

Asta chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Thanks! So when does the couple spin?”

“Spin?”

“Yeah, like when the girl twirls around and then they start the steps again.” 

Finral tried to picture the steps Asta was describing. “Oh! That’s a more advanced type of waltz. I’m sure Vanessa knows it, but I could never get it myself. Once she gets home, she’ll probably be willing to teach us.”

The two of them practiced their box-step waltz a little more, switching who led and who followed every once in a while.

After they stopped dancing, Finral sat Asta down on the couch, gathering a bunch of papers. He cleared his throat for a moment and began.

“So, Asta, now I’m going to show you all the steps of becoming a perfect wingman!” He leafed through his papers, making sure they were all there. “First lesson, how to easily slip yourself into a conversation.”

Asta paid close attention and hung onto every word. Eventually though, the lesson started to get tiring. Whatever Finral had written on those papers was wordy. Each lesson had many very  _ detailed _ descriptions of how to be a social butterfly at a big party like this, and how to use that social connection to “hype up” Finral. It wasn’t that Asta didn’t want to help out his friend, he just would rather do it in a way that didn’t feel forced. After all, he was great at making friends already. Asta was sure that if he did things his way, both himself and Finral would have much higher chances of getting a girl.

An hour passed and while Finral was still teaching, Asta began to wonder what the other Black Bulls were doing.

_ “So the girls are still out shopping, Gauche went to his room to call Marie, Gordon… He’ll turn up eventually. Wait, where’s Zora? He was out here for a little while. He’ll probably want to learn how to dance too when Vanesa gets back.” _

Asta tuned back into what his superior was saying, but as it turns out, Finral was wrapping up the discussion.

“So that’s how you become the perfect wingman! Any questions?”

“Uhh, nope.”

“Perfect!” Finral beamed. “Now, I’m going to give you these papers, I want you to study for this Saturday.” Finral handed the papers he was using for his presentation over to the smaller man.

The door to the common room slammed open. Finral and Asta turned to see who it was.

“Guess who’s home!” Vanessa sang. The other girls followed behind her, each one of them carrying an outfit in a protective cover. “Sorry we took so long, Grey couldn’t find a dress at first and Charmy got in an argument with a suit tailor.”

“He said I looked like a little boy! He even told me that my mother should be proud that I made it into the magic knights at such a young age and that he ‘didn’t know they let kids in nowadays’!” Charmy fumed.

“Well at least you got the suit like you wanted, right?” Asta asked. Charmy seemed to forget her anger and held up the protective cover holding her suit.

The girls were going back to their rooms to hang up their stuff. Finral caught Vanessa before she rounded the corner into the hallway.

“Hey, Vanessa, Asta and I were wondering if you could teach us how to waltz so we don’t look like complete idiots on Saturday.”

“Don’t you already know the box step? Just do that!”

“Yeah but I wanna know the one where you spin!” Asta butted in. “If I get to dance with a girl, I want her to be impressed with my skills!”

Vanessa rolled her eyes, but kept her smile all the same. She agreed to teach the boys how to dance once she put her dress away. Asta was  _ pumped! _ He was hyping himself up, ready to focus all his attention onto this lesson, but then he remembered that Zora was still in his room. He probably wouldn’t want to miss this either.

All this while, Zora had been in his room, trying on different clothes and practicing how he would invite his crush to dance.

“Hey, Mereoleona! Wait no, that’s too informal. Hello, Captain, er, I mean, Former Captain- wait is that insensitive? Hello, Former Captain Mereoleona. You look lovely tonight… God, who am I kidding? There’s no way I’m gonna get her attention.” Zora sulked. He walked over and threw himself onto the bed.

_ “Christ. I’m such a loser. She’s so perfect and I’m so… annoying.”  _

The more Zora thought about his crush, the hotter his face felt. He stood up and carefully locked his bedroom door, taking his mask off. He took one last look in the mirror, sighing. This whole royal dance thing was harder than it seemed. Zora pushed back his hair to see if he should slick it back or leave it the way it always was. He began to pace round the room, practicing over and over how he was going to ask Mereoleona to the dance.

“Good evening, Captain Mereoleona. You look absolutely stunning tonight! I know it’s been a while since we last spoke.” He held out his hand to an imaginary Mereoleona. “May I have this dance?”

**_KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!_ **

Zora jumped. He turned to the door when he heard Asta’s voice.

“Hey! Zora! Do you wanna learn how to dance with us?” The runt shouted. Zora sighed and put his mask back on, moving to open up the door.

“What do you want, brat?”

“Vanessa’s going to teach us how to waltz so we don’t look out of place at the royal dance! Wanna come with us?”

Zora opened his mouth, fully ready to say no, but then he thought about it for a minute. He couldn’t really ask Captain Mereoleona to dance if he didn’t know how. That would just be embarrassing.

“Sure, I’ll come with. Just give me a second.” Asta nodded, but lingered by the door.

“Also, who were you talking to just a minute ago?” The brat asked. Zora panicked internally. 

There was no way he could just straight up tell Asta that he was practicing asking out the former Crimson Lions captain, that would be humiliating! What if he told Finral? Then he would tell everybody else and there’d be no way for him to live this down. His reputation as an edgy prankster would be gone in an instant.

“Uh, I was just… Talking to myself, that’s all.”

Asta seemed a little suspicious, but didn’t pry further. The two of them made their way to the common room. The couch and table were moved out of the way to create a sort of small dance floor.

“All right everyone,” Vanessa started, “grab a partner!” Everyone shifted awkwardly. Sure, they were friends, and they had been through many trials and adventures together, but a close contact dance that was generally seen as romantic was crossing the line a little bit. Grey immediately opted out. She said that she barely wanted to go, let alone dance with people, so she would just observe.

Without hesitation, Asta gently grabbed Noelle’s hand. Noelle looked him in the eyes and panicked. Part of her wanted to shove him away, to scream about how stupid he was being and launch a ball of water at him, but she didn’t do that. Instead, she placed her free hand on his shoulder and stepped closer.

“Fine, I  _ guess _ I’ll dance with you, Asta. I mean, someone has to, right?” She scoffed. Asta’s signature smile faltered for just a second, just for long enough that Noelle could take notice. She never thought that one of her gripes at him would ever actually hurt his feelings. He always seemed to brush it off before and come back twice as strong.

_ “Has he been feeling hurt this entire time?”  _ Noelle wondered. There was no time for that now, everyone else had settled into partners. Since Grey decided not to dance, Finral went with Vanessa and Zora got stuck with Charmy, which wouldn’t have been bad if it weren’t for the awkwardly large height difference.

“First, Finral and I will demonstrate the movements and I want you all to watch us first, then try and copy.” Vanessa directed. She slowly walked her partner through the steps over and over again until he got the first part smoothly. Then the other pairs took their turns on the improvised dance floor, trying their best to copy what they saw.

It was difficult to manage at first. The positions of the feet were hard to keep up with, but slowly everyone started to get a hang of it. In the end, the counts were the same, just the movements were different. Asta seemed to really grasp it on the second demonstration. He was practically dragging Noelle around the floor, keeping the counts in his head.

_ “One, two three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three…”  _ He counted in his head. Noelle caught him even whispering the counts under his breath.

“Alright, everyone let’s try it a little faster with some music this time!” Vanessa sent Grey to go get the record player out of the library. She came back with it and several different vinyls with classical music on them. Vanessa set it all up and poured a little magic power into the device, turning it on.

The music started, the sound of a trained orchestra playing a soft, slow melody. Asta rushed Noelle out to the middle of the floor, keeping the counts in his head. The two bowed to each other, put their hands in position, and after the fourth eight count they started to glide across the floor.

_ “One, two three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three…” _ Asta counted in his head. Noelle followed, but was a little off beat. This led to a few trips here and there, but the couple regained their stride every time. Asta was getting really giddy and it was hard to keep up with the counts without throwing Noelle off. Near the end of the song, Asta held Noelle’s waist and spun her around. They continued dancing and twirling until the very end of the song when he picked her up and spun around with her.

“Asta!” Noelle freaked a little bit. She wasn’t expecting him to pick her up, or be this into it at all.

He put her back down and stared into her eyes. It took every bit of self control he had to not bring her in for a hug right then. It was a simple gesture, but he knew he would probably get slapped for it. The two of them continued to stare at each other, slightly out of breath. It was mesmerizing, honestly, for Asta to hold Noelle in his arms and spin her around like that. The way she smiled even though it was unexpected, her grip on his shoulders, her sweet voice…

“Damn, kid.” Zora muttered. Asta snapped back to reality. He looked around and everyone was staring at him and Noelle.

_ “Crap! I went too far, didn’t I?” _

Asta braced himself for the inevitable attack from his dance partner. He waited… but it never came. He looked up and Noelle was simply checking her nails.

“I’m not going to hit you.” She stated. He relaxed a little bit, but was still confused. “It’s not your fault you got carried away. I mean, I  _ am _ royalty after all, you just couldn’t help yourself. Thank you for dancing with me.” She then turned to Vanessa. “And thank you for teaching me.” Noelle held her head high and walked back to her room.

Once she was gone, everyone relaxed a little bit, thanking Vanessa for the lesson. Asta sat down on the couch, tired. Finral and Zora approached him and one sat on either side of the boy.

“So?” Finral started.

“So what?” Asta asked. The other two looked at each other, knowing where they were going to take this.

“So how can we help set you up with Noelle?”

Asta was shocked.  _ “Great. Now everyone knows that I’m crushing on her!” _

“H-how did you guys know-”

“Don’t act surprised, kid. You danced with her as if it were the last time you’d ever see her again.” Zora cut the young boy off. Asta put a hand on his cheek, his face felt hot.

“Don’t worry kiddo.” Vanessa cooed, walking over. She placed a hand on Asta’s shoulder. “You all didn’t hear it from me, but Noelle likes you a lot.” The other girls, Finral and Zora nodded.

“Noelle? Liking  _ me? _ Do you guys even know who you’re talking about? She  _ hates _ me! Everytime I try to flirt with her, she smacks me around like some ragdoll!” Asta exclaimed. He sulked, knowing that even if everyone was right, he still wouldn’t know how to confess to her.

“Don’t look so sad, Asta, we’re gonna help you  _ and _ Noelle!” Grey squeaked from behind her hands.

“Yeah! By the end of the night, you two will be smooching it up.” Charmy chimed in.

_ “‘Smooching it up’? Wait… she can’t mean-” _ Asta blushed a deep red when he thought about it further. Kissing Noelle.... Sure, he had thought about it before as a sort of fantasy situation, but thinking about  _ actually _ doing it?  _ “God… what would that even feel like?” _

Asta thought about her soft lips, the way her hair would get tangled in his hand, what her perfume might smell like… He snapped himself out of his thoughts. He had to focus on the reality of the situation, not just what he wanted to happen.

“How would we even go about getting her to go to the dance with me? She already rejected me pretty hard, so I don’t think that just asking her is going to have a different outcome.”

“Leave it to us, kiddo, we’ll make sure you have you two get your happy ending this Saturday.” Vanessa beamed. “We’ll all work together to come up with the perfect plan!”

Asta thought about it for approximately two seconds before agreeing. Then another thin crossed his mind.

“Can we come up with a plan for Zora too? He wants to dance with-” The runt got cut off by Zora cupping his hand over the kid’s mouth.

“Ooh! Zora’s got a little crush too?” Charmy cooed. Zora was starting to blush.

“I don’t have a stupid crush!”

“Aw, he’s blushing!”

“Do you wanna die?”

And so the planning phase had begun.


End file.
